PAGE SIX
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
TUESDAY, JANUARY" 10, 1967
PAGE SIX TIlE MICHIGAN DAILY TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 1967
I
SCHEDULE OF CLASSES
announces
B'NAI B'RITH HILLEL FOUNDATION
Basic Judaism, Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m.
Dr. Herman Jacobs, Instructor
First meeting, January 10
Contemporary Jewish History, Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
Joseph Ben-Dak, Instructor
First meeting, January 12
Bet-Midrash classes start this Wednesday, January 11
Elementary Hebrew-Monday & Wednesday, 7-8:15 p.m.
Advanced Hebrew-Monday & Wednesday, 3:15-4:30 p.m.
Talmud-Monday & Wednesday, 7-8:15 p.m.
Jewish Philosophy-Monday & Wednesday, 4:30-5:45 p.m.
Across
Campus
TUESDAY, JAN.10
7:00 and 9:05 p.m. - Cinema
Guild will present Jean-Luc Go-
dard's "Une Femme Est Une
Femme" in the Arch. Aud.
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 11
7:00 and 9:05 p.m. - Cinema
Guild will present Jean-Luc Go-
dard's "Une Femme Est Une
Femme" in the Arch. Aud.
8:00 p.m. - Mr. Iver Richard,
member of Parliament, will speak
on "Labour's Prospects in Britain"
on the sixth floor of the Institute
of Social Research.
MUSIC
UNINSPIRED, VAGUE:
Detroit Symphony Disappoints Arnn Arbor Audience
By RICHARD PERRY
Except for introducing Leslie
Bassett's "Variations for Orch-
estra" to the Ann Arbor audience,
the Detroit Symphony chose to
present a most familiar bill of
fare: Mozart's Overture to "Don
Giovanni," Beethoven's Symphony
No. 8, and Brahms' Symphony No.
2. Increasing the tedium of the
Sunday afternoon, they performed
these well-known works in a whol-
ly pedestrian and uninspired man-
ner, hardly indicative of the past
accomplishments of this major or-
chestra.
Indeed, the only truly fine mo-
ment of the afternoon came in the
distinctive playing of the first
movement of Beethoven's Eighth.
This movement was marked by a
lean, clean angularity which force-
fully portrayed the propulsive
geometry of the music. Unfortu-
nately the orchestra could not sus-
stain unity of ensemble and depth
of feeling in the following three
movements. Intonation problems
arose in the second violin section,
and the trumpets, whose accents
are so important to the syncopa-
tion of the third movement, rare-
ly entered together with the re-
quired precision.
The lack of precision of en-
semble playing which marks a me-
OPEN TO ALL
1429 HILL STREET
663-4129
SOCIAL REVOLUTION IN ASIA
diocre orchestra unfortunately also
marred the Brahms. Most amazing
was the temerity of the first flut-
ist who mumbled instead of sang,
though other members of his sec-
tion also seemed to disavow re-
sponsibility for the important in-
ner voices which break the bore-
dom of Brahms' gargantuan
themes. Yet perhaps even with
these flaws erased, Sixten Ehrling's
choice of moribund tempos would
have enervated the piece. Truly
nothing is as dull, bloated, and
mawkish as Brahms served with a
heavy hand. If an inner tension
can be effected, it will carry
through the less than perfect
bridge passages and involve the
listener in the drama of the music.
Not only was the plastic phrasing
of these bridge passages missing,
destroying the horizontal flow of
the music, but also the main lyric
themes were overstated in a most
unsubtle and sentimental fashion.
Because of all this perfunctory
hacking out of the printed score,
it was good to see the musicians
actively engaged in creating Mr.
Bassett's music. Whether or not
one likes the music, one has to be
excited by the real bending of
minds and instrumental skills, try-
ing to make and understand a
new musical experience. If tradi-
tional classical music may be lik-
ened to a comfortable bed, mod-
ern music is like a bed of nails.
In the former you can rest, sleep,
and be refreshed; on the latter'
your mind and body are united in
the true confrontation of exper-
iencing aliceness, the Now. Time,
of course, slowly blunts these nails.
I had not heard Mr. Bassett's
"Variations for Orchestra" before,
and, in spite of the fact that it
won a Pulitzer Prize in 1966, I
can't say I am dying to hear it
again. In the program notes. Mr.
Bassett states that he tried to
"place the listener in the midst of
a form he could perceive" and "in-
volve him in the gradual unfold-
ing of a thematic-motivic web."
At the same time,, the composer
states that "the variations are not
based upon a theme" and that he
strove to maintain "a backdrop of
basically unimportant sounds."
The result of this contradiction, it
seems to me, is that the music
never provides either an access to
form or purely mood music. It
wavers between form and form-
less and thus serves up only col-
oristic effect.
Likewise, the piece stylistically
rests somewhere in that vast realm
between the rhythmic percussive-
ness of "Sacre du Printemps" -
without the latter's thematic and
structural framework - and the
pure sound music of Cage or
Feldman-lacking the latter's mys-
tic exhortation to examine time-
lessness and spacelsesness. In a
word, it is old-fashioned.
The music certainly took place,
however (the orchestra waking up
to make it happen), and Mr. Bas-
sett was there to receive applause.
I wondered, do we applaud him
for his music, or for his having
the audacity to be a composer?
the R. D.
Merrill Lectureship presents
PROFESSOR M. M. THOMAS of India
Visiting Professor of World
Christianity at Union
Theological Seminary in
{ New York City. Mr. Thomas
has served as Chairman of
the World Council of Churches
Dept. of Church and Society;
Secretary, East Asia Christian
Conference of Church and
Society; and Director, -
Christian Institute for the
Study of Religion and Society
(India).
His publications include:
PROBLEMS OF INDIAN
DEMOCRACY
MUD WALLS AND STEEL
MILLS
TRIBAL AWAKENING
CHRISTIAN RESPONSE TO
THE ASIAN
REVOLUTIlON
CHANGING PATTERN OF
FAMILY IN INDIA
COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT IN
INDIA'S INDUSTRIAL
y y ~URBAN AREAS
"VIETNAM FROM AN ASIAN PERSPECTIVE'
Tuesday, January 10, at 7:30 P.M. in Auditorium A, Angell Hall
Panel Members: M. M. Thomas; Dr. Inis Claude, Prof. of Pal. Sci. and Mr. Yoshio
Hida, graduate student in political science
"COMMUNIISM, DEMOCRACY AND SOCIAL REVOLUTION"
Wednesday, January 11, at 7:30 P.M. in Auditorium A, Angell Hall
Panel Members: M. M. Thomas; Dr. Bishwanath Prasad of Bihar Univ.;
and Dr. David Wurfel, Visiting Pr'of. of Pol. Sci.
"INDIA'S POLITICAL OUTLOOK TODAY"
Thursday, January 12, at 7:30 P.M. at the Presbyterian Campus Center
1432 Washtenaw Avenue
Panel Members: M. M. Thomas and Mr. Manindra Mohapatra, graduate
student in public administration
The Merrill Lectureship is administered by the U. of M. Presbyterian
Corporation and on this occasion is sponsored in cooperation with the
U, of M. Indian Student Association. These lectues are open to the public.
S USCRIBE
TO THE
ORGANIZATION NOTICES
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USE OF THIS COLUMN FOR AN- ing, Jan. 11, 7 p.m.. 2084 East Engineer-
NOUNCEMENTS is available to offi- ing.
cially recognized and registered student
organizations only. Forms are available Deutscher Verein, Kaffeestunde, Wed.,
in Room 1011 SAB. Jan. 11, 3-5 p.m., 3050 Frieze Bldg.
MICHIGAN DAILY
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